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Antony Blinken looked like a whipped puppy as he bowed down to Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, profusely assuring China that “we do not support Taiwan independence.” He’s only saying that because he found out that all the other NATO nations already agreed to stand back and watch if China goes ahead and “re-unifies” Taiwan with the mainland. Blinky got a frosty welcome and despite his major concession, there aren’t any solid plans for more substantial talks any time soon.
Blinken bows down to China
Secretary of State Antony Blinken “clarified” on Monday that U.S. continues to support the “One China” policy and more importantly “does not support Taiwanese independence.” Words have subtle nuance in the world of diplomacy but they don’t tell the whole story.
The posturing between the players is just as important. All the body language on display showed Blinky battling to simply be noticed. When Xi shook hands with him, for instance, the Pooh Bear had a look on his face like he was handling something he scraped off his shoe.
After his short meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Blinken briefed the press on what he said. “We do not support Taiwan independence,” Blinky flatly declared. “We remain opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side. We continue to expect the peaceful resolution of cross strait differences. We remain committed to continuing our responsibilities under the Taiwan Relations Act including making sure Taiwan has the ability to defend itself.”
The United States has pivoted from pro-Taiwan independence. Speaking in Beijing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed America’s commitment to the One China policy. “We do not support Taiwan independence.” pic.twitter.com/ejSIMDRI9M
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 19, 2023
We finally came across with the stingers we promised them years ago. American politicians, especially the Democrat ones, have been causing trouble by teasing the Chinese territory with freedom. The Taiwanese have been led to believe that when the reunification comes, America will send in the airstrikes and missiles to rescue them. We can only do that with help from Europe and they already said they’re not willing to go that far.
Meanwhile, China has made it crystal clear that Taiwan and all the microchips they make belongs to them. Blinky isn’t quite prepared to fully acknowledge that because we need those chips. “At the same time, we and many others have deep concerns about some of the provocative actions that China has taken in recent years going back to 2016. And the reason that this is a concern for so many countries, not just the United States, is that were there to be a crisis over Taiwan, the likelihood is that could produce an economic crisis that could affect quite literally the entire world.”
Blinken made it crystal clear what he’s talking about. “Fifty percent of commercial container traffic goes through the Taiwan Strait every day. Seventy percent of semiconductors are manufactured in Taiwan.”
Dramatic consequences
If China were to get drastic and take Taiwan “offline,” it would have “dramatic consequences for virtually every country around the world.” Tensions have been flaring for a long time. They went up considerably when Nancy Pelosi took her little junket there last year.
This year, Taiwan’s chief administrator sat down with Kevin McCarthy in California. Since then, there was the big spy balloon debacle. It’s gotten so bad that the Chinese Foreign Ministry was refusing to return a call if it came from Blinken or his office.
In the past month, the Navy has been reporting “a close encounter between a Chinese navy ship and an American destroyer in the Taiwan Strait,” along with “several close calls between Chinese and U.S. military aircraft recently, including an air intercept by a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea in late May.”
Today, I met with People’s Republic of China State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing and discussed how we can responsibly manage the relationship between our two countries through open channels of communication. pic.twitter.com/dPkd0aWQ5J
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) June 18, 2023
Blinken was careful to avoid talking about things like that. He was on shaky ground to start with and didn’t want to get thrown out of the country.
If things keep going the way they have been then nuclear war is looming on the horizon. Blinken understands that completely. “We have no illusions about the challenges of this relationship. There are many issues on which we profoundly and even vehemently disagree.” We need to cooperate anyway.
“The United States has a long history of successfully managing complicated relationships through diplomacy.” Blinky is calling his trip a success. He didn’t get much to show for it but “his counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, agreed to visit Washington D.C., in the future.” Someday, when he gets around to it. The way Dances with Wolves put it, at a “suitable time.” Suitable for China.
